Faisal II

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Faisal II
Faisal in the 1950s
King of Iraq
Reign	4 April 1939 – 14 July 1958
Regency ended	2 May 1953
Predecessor	Ghazi I
Successor	Monarchy abolished (Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i, President of Iraq) (Zeid bin Hussein as head of Iraqi and Syrian royal family)
Prime Minister	See list Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi (twice) Mustafa Mahmud al-Umari Nureddin Mahmud Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali Abdul-Wahab Mirjan Ahmad Mukhtar Baban
Prince 'Abd al-Ilah
Born	(1935-05-02)2 May 1935 Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq
Died	14 July 1958(1958-07-14) (aged 23) Baghdad, Arab Federation
Burial	Iraqi Royal Cemetery, Baghdad[1]
Names Faisal bin Ghazi bin Faisal bin Hussein bin Ali
House	Hashemite
Father	Ghazi I
Mother	Aliya of Hejaz
Religion	Sunni Islam[2]

Faisal II (

.

The only son of

The regency ended in May 1953 when Faisal came of age.

The

Abd al-Karim Qasim

mounted a coup d'état and overthrew the monarchy. Faisal was executed along with numerous members of his family in the process.

Family and early life

Birth and early years

Faisal was the only son of

1941 coup

Faisal's childhood coincided with the

.

During his early years, Faisal was tutored at the royal palace with several other Iraqi boys. During the Second World War, he lived for a time with his mother at Grove Lodge at

1952 United States tour

In 1952, at age 17, Faisal began plans to visit the United States and its many development projects such as agriculture, power projects, canal systems, and land reclamation schemes. It was of particular interest to the King especially the Irrigation projects as Faisal would later tell the New York press that it was “very much needed in our country."^[6]

On the 12th of August, 1952, Faisal began the five-week tour and, along with Regent 'Abd al-Ilah, they first arrived at 11 AM, in the Hudson River on the RMS Queen Mary and were given a tour around the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan. The next day, Faisal went on a tour of the Empire State Building and after arriving at the City Hall for a reception with Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, he famously went to attend a game held in the Ebbets Field. The visit was covered by many news outlets nationwide that many forgot Faisal's original motives for the visit. He would also famously be on the side of Brooklyn Dodgers but reportedly couldn't tell the difference between them and the other team, the New York Giants, in which one of his aides told him that it the team's names are written on their clothes.^[6]

In the following days, he would tour the Radio City Music Hall and the Esso Oil Company. On the 16th of August, both would depart from LaGuardia Airport for Washington, D.C. where he met President Harry Truman.^[6] Over the following weeks, he would meet other famous Americans such as Dean Acheson, the actor James Mason, and Jackie Robinson, among others.^[7][8]

Adulthood

Less than a year after his visit to the United States, Faisal attained his

nationalism.

Hastening Faisal's demise was the decision taken by his regent (later confirmed by him) to allow the United Kingdom to retain a continued role in Iraqi affairs, through

, U.S. He was the regent of his nephew Faisal during his infancy. They were both killed during the 1958 coup.

As oil revenues increased during the 1950s, the king and his advisers chose to invest their wealth in development projects, which some claimed increasingly alienated the rapidly growing middle class and the peasantry. The

, provided an impetus for a similar undertaking in Iraq.

Plans for Greater Baghdad

During his reign, Faisal initiated large-scale plans for the modernization of Greater Baghdad. The goal of this ambitious project was to improve and develop infrastructure and housing, provide essential public buildings, reform the building industries, and train future Iraqi architects to not rely on Western help. The increase in the economy that subsequently enabled the plans for Greater Baghdad to be developed was due to negotiations with the British-controlled Iraq Petroleum Company in 1952 that achieved an equitable share of oil rights and a substantial increase in Iraq's revenue. Faisal also created the semiautonomous Development Board which consisted of six members including a foreign advisor with the goal of improving living conditions and construction. After various negotiations, the board received a percentage of the annual oil revenue and in 1955 it established a six-year plan with a larger budget, a quarter of which was assigned to public buildings. In an effort to secure the authority of King Faisal II and the Royal Family and to thwart possible tensions, funds needed to be invested in urban areas where it was feared the conflict would potentially appear.

Many architects from around the world were invited, among them were

.

Despite the contribution to the development of the city, some have criticized Faisal's plans for Greater Baghdad and the many styles that he introduced to be a "Westernization" of Iraq. The plans also acquired international attention as a letter from the British Board of Trade demonstrates that was sent to a number of British architects. Some of the criticism of the plans were used as justification during the 14 July Revolution.^[12]

The Arab Federation

On 1 February 1958, neighboring Syria joined with Nasser's Egypt to form the

was to join but Britain was opposed to the unification.

Faisal, as the senior member of the Hashemite family, became its head of state and the head of the Union Government, and in his absence, Hussein would head the Union Government. The Federation was also open to other Arab countries joining it.[13]

Assassination

An opposition forms

Faisal's political situation deteriorated in 1956, with

An identical process ensued within the Iraqi officer corps with the formation of a "Supreme Committee of Free Officers". Faisal's government endeavored to preserve the military's loyalty through generous benefits, but this proved increasingly ineffective as more and more officers came to sympathize with the nascent pro-republican anti-monarchist movement.

14 July Revolution

In the summer of 1958,

). According to Princess Hyam's biography page, the royal family and royal staff left the palace through the kitchen. When they passed through the kitchen garden, rebel soldiers opened fire. The King was shot in the head and neck, while Nafeesa and Abadiya were shot in the back. Only Princess Hiyam survived the massacre of the royal family, being wounded in the leg or hip. The group was then taken to cars for transport to the Ministry of Defence. The King reportedly died along the way, and the cars were stopped. The King's body was hanged, while the Crown Prince was defiled and dragged through the streets.

Aftermath

Many years later, when the Iraqi historian Safa Khulusi met Al-Ibousi, who was once one of Khulusi's students, and questioned him on his part in Faisal's death, the former student answered, "all I did was remember Palestine, and the trigger on the machine-gun just set itself off".^{[15][page needed]}

During the regime of Saddam Hussein, Faisal II was reburied under a marble tomb located next to that of his father in the restored Royal Cemetery in Baghdad.^{[16][page needed]}

Engagements

Faisal initially asked for the hand of Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, the eldest daughter of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. However, the offer was rejected by the princess herself.

In January 1957, Faisal became engaged to Princess Kiymet Hanım, a descendant of the Mamluk dynasty of Iraq. However, the engagement was broken three months later.

At the time of his death, the king was scheduled to marry to Princess Sabiha Fazile Hanımsultan (engagement in September 1957), the only daughter of Prince Muhammad 'Ali Ibrahim of Egypt and Ottoman princess Zahra Hanzade Sultan.

Notable published works

Faisal II was the author of Ways to Defend Yourself (1951), an Arabic book on judo and self-defense, and he printed 50 copies of it and gave it to other kings and leaders on top of them his uncle King Abdullah of Jordan. He also gave a copy of it to the League of Arab Nations hoping to reprint it and distribute it for free to the youth in Arab countries, but that never happened.^[17]

In pop culture

• It has been suggested before that Belgian comic creator, Hergé, used young Faisal as the inspiration for the Character of Prince Abdullah of Khemed in the fifteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin: Land of Black Gold. It's even suggested that the portrait of Prince Abdullah in the same storyline was inspired by the young King's portrait.^[18][19]
• Footage of Faisal along with Abd al-Ilah was shown in The Rock 'n' Roll Years episode "1958" in which the events of the 14 July coup were also talked about.^[20]

Military ranks

Faisal held the following ranks:^{[citation needed]}

• Admiral of the Fleet
  , Royal Iraqi Navy.
• Field Marshal
  , Royal Iraqi Army.
• Marshal of the Royal Iraqi Air Force
  .
• Air Vice-Marshal (honorary), Royal Air Force
  .

Ancestry

v t e Hashemites[21][22]
Hashim (eponymous ancestor) Abd al-Muttalib Abdallah Muhammad (Islamic prophet) Fatimah Hasan (fifth caliph) Hasan Al-Mu'thanna Abdullah Musa Al-Djawn Abdullah Musa Muhammad Abdullah Ali Suleiman Hussein Issa Abd Al-Karim Muta'in Idris Qatada (Sharif of Mecca) Ali Hassan (Sharif of Mecca) Abu Numayy I (Sharif of Mecca) Rumaythah (Sharif of Mecca) 'Ajlan (Sharif of Mecca) Hassan (Sharif of Mecca) Barakat I (Sharif of Mecca) Muhammad (Sharif of Mecca) Barakat II (Sharif of Mecca) Abu Numayy II (Sharif of Mecca) Hassan (Sharif of Mecca) Abdullah (Sharif of Mecca) Hussein Abdullah Muhsin Auon, Ra'i Al-Hadala Abdul Mu'een Muhammad (Sharif of Mecca) Ali Hussein (Sharif of Mecca King of Hejaz ) Zeid (pretender to Iraq ) Ra'ad (pretender to Iraq ) Zeid King of Jordan ) Hussein (Crown Prince of Jordan)

Gallery

Namesakes

Martyr Faisal II College (Kolleyet Al-Shahid Faisal Al-Thani) is a military school in Jordan that was named after him.

See also

• The late Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein – The cousin of King Faisal II who lived in Iraq and had a political platform to establish a constitutional monarchy in Iraq.
• Prince Ra'ad
  , head of the royal house of Iraq.
• Abdul Karim Qassim
  .
• Arab Federation, the short-lived union between Jordan and Iraq where Faisal became its head of state.
• History of Iraq.

Notes

External links

• "Young King". Time. 17 April 1939. Archived from the original on 14 December 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
• "Revolt in Baghdad". Time. 21 July 1958. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
• "In One Swift Hour". Time. 28 July 1958. Archived from the original on 16 March 2007. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

Further reading

• Khadduri, Majid. Independent Iraq, 1932–1958. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 1960.
• Lawrence, T. E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Retrieved 14 July 2008
• Longrigg, Stephen H. Iraq, 1900 to 1950. Oxford University Press, 1953.
• Morris, James. The Hashemite Kings. London, 1959.
• De Gaury, Gerald. Three kings in Baghdad, 1921-1958 (Hutchinson, 1961).

Faisal II House of Hāshim Born: 2 May 1935 Died: 14 July 1958
Regnal titles
Preceded by Ghazi I	King of Iraq 4 April 1939 – 14 July 1958	14 July Revolution
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Ghazi I	— TITULAR — King of Syria 4 April 1939 – 14 July 1958 Reason for succession failure: Kingdom abolished in 1920	Succeeded by Zeid bin Hussein
Loss of title Monarchy abolished	— TITULAR — King of Iraq 14 July 1958